Rail-brake



(No Model). A. M. PERRY.

RAIL BRAKE.

No. 447,161. Patented Feb. 24,1891.

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[NVF/VTOI'? I BY Jaw ATTORNEYS UMTED STATES PATENT @rricn.

ALBERT M. PERRY, OF RICHMOND, VIRGINIA.

RAIL-BRAKE.

SPECIFICATION forming part Of Letters Patent No. 447,161, dated February 24 1891.

Application filed June 2, 1890. Serial No. 354,012. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT M. PERRY, of Richmond, in the county of Henrico and State of Virginia, have invented a new and Improved Rail-Brake, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The object of the invention is to provide a new and improved rail-brake which issimple and durable in construction, very effective in operation, easily applied to all cars, and con trolled by the ordinary brake mechanism.

The invention consists of an arm fulcrumed loosely on the car-axle and carrying a brakeshoe controlled from the ordinary brake mechanism.

The invention also consists in certain parts and details and combinations of the same, as will be described hereinafter, and then pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in both the figures.

Figure 1 is a sectional side elevation of the improvement as applied on the line 1 1 of Fig. 2, and Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same with parts in section.

The car A, on which the rail-brake is applied, is provided with the usual brake-wheels O, secured on the axle B and mounted to travel on the rails D. The brake-wheels C are adapted to be braked by the ordinary brake-shoes E, secured on the brake-beam F and fitted to slide vertically in suitable bearings G, arranged on the under side of the cartrnck. The brake-beam F is connected in the usual manner by levers or rods with suitable mechanism for operating the brake-beam by hand or power, as desired, and in the usual manner. Each end of the brake-beam F is pivotally connected by an upwardlyextending link H with a lever I, f ulcrumed on a bracket J, secured to the under side of the car-body or on the truck of the car A.

The rear end of the lever I is pivotallyconnected bya link K with a rail-shoe L, adapted to fit onto the top of the rail E and pivotally connected with the end of the arm N, fulcrumed loosely on a collar 0, secured on the axle B of the car A. In order to mount the arm N loosely on the collar 0, it is preferably made with a hinged semicircular part N so the collar 0. The hingedsemicircular part N is locked to the other part of the arm N by suitable means. A rod P connects the two oppositely-arranged brake-shoes L with each other, so as to hold the same-in alignment with the rails D.

Theoperation is as follows: When the car A moves forward and the wheels turn in the direction of the arrow ct and the brake mechanism-is applied so as to cause the brakeshoes E to come in contact with the wheels 0, then the said brake-shoes by their frictional contact with the wheels 0 are moved upward, thus causing the brake-beam F to slide upward in the bearings G, whereby the links H exert an upward pressure on the levers I, so that their free ends swing downward, and by means of thelinks K press the shoes L firmly in contact with the tops of the rails D, thus braking the car. hen the ordinary brake mechanism is thrown off, then the weight of the brake-beam F and its connections cause them tofall downward, thus raising the brakeshoes L off the rails D, the said brake-shoes L swinging upward with the arms N. This rail-brake can be supplied at a very small cost and fitted to all cars provided with the ordinary brake mechanism. It can be operated without any additional expense and is capable of stopping a train of cars in a much shorter time than any brake used at present or applied byordinary methods, and the wear, instead of being on the wheel, as now. is on the rail, thus diminishing the wear on the wheels. As the wear is almost entirelyon the rails, it is so distributed that it will hardly be perceptible, as is the case where the wear is all on the wheel. \Vhen the car A travels in an opposite direction, so that the wheels 0 turn in the inverse direction of the arrow a,

and the ordinarybrake mechanism is applied,

then the brakeshoe moves downward, thus raising the brake-shoes Lfrom the rails. As

as to conveniently place the fulcrum N onto the device is intended to be applied at each end of the car, the forward brake-shoes are raised off of the rails while the rear ones are In a rail-brake, the combination, with the ordinary brake mechanism, of a link pivotally connected with the brake-beam of the said mechanism, a lever pivotally connected with the said link, a second link pivotally connected with the said lever, and a brakeshoe held on the said second link and adapted to be placed in contact with the rail, substantially as shown and described.

4. In a railbrake, the combination, with the ordinary brake mechanism, of a link pivotally connected with the brake beam of the said mechanism, a lever pivotally connected with the said link, a second link pivotally connected with the said lever, a brake-shoe held on the said second link and adapted to be pressed in contact with the rail, and an arm pivotally connected with the said brake-shoe and loosely fulcrumed on the car-axle, substantially as shown and described.

5. In a rail-brake, the combination, with a collar adapted to be secured to one of the axles, of an arm loosely fnlcrnmed on the said collar, a brake-shoe pivotally connected with the said arm and adapted to engage the top of the rail, a link pivotally connected with the said brake-shoe, a lever pivotally connected with the said link, and a second link pivotally connected with the said lever and also pivot-ally connected with the brakeheam of the ordinary brake mechanism, substantially as shown and described.

ALBERT M. PERRY. Witnesses:

D. C. RICHARDSON, 'lHos. P. INcLEsBv. 

